Newington Officials Debate School Funding Amid Talk Of Program Cuts

April 07, 2014|By CHRISTOPHER HOFFMAN, Special to The Courant, The Hartford Courant

NEWINGTON -- Town council Democrats and Republicans continued to spar Monday over additional funding the schools say they need to avoid program cuts next year.

Without another $100,000, the district may eliminate the middle school gifted and talented program, as well as high school PSATs, a middle school counselor and fourth grade musical instrument instruction, school officials say.

Republicans last week proposed and the majority Democrats rejected giving the schools an extra $100,000 from $650,000 originally set aside for expanded town hall parking and realignment of Garfield Street next to town hall.

Since the town no longer plans to realign Garfield Street, it made sense to transfer the money to the schools, Minority Leader David Nagel said Monday.

"We thought it was a way of shifting finances that we didn't feel would be essential," Nagel said. "We thought it would be a more productive way of use of the money this year."

But Mayor Stephen Woods, a Democrat, said Town Manager John Salomone says he needs the full $650,000 for parking and some changes to Garfield Street. The work is part of the planned rehabilitation of town hall.

"It looks like we're now not going to straighten Garfield Street," Woods said. "But it doesn't mean we don't have a problem with parking."

Woods said that the school board's proposed $68 million budget, a 2.9 percent increase, is only about $140,000 short of what it requested. He noted that the board had decided to go ahead with constructing an aerospace academy at John Wallace School, forcing the district to make tough choices.

"I would urge anyone who doesn't want to see any of these programs deferred or delayed or eliminated go to the board of education meeting," Woods said. "They're making the decisions.

Woods expressed skepticism that the board would actually terminate any programs.

"When this is all said and done, I'll be very surprised if some substantive program is eliminated," Woods said.

Superintendent of Schools William Collins said that money is so tight the district will not spend $100,000 to replace a school bus that is no longer drivable. The bus was already a spare, he said.

"Can we do without it?" Collins said. "As long as there aren't any other issues,"

The town council is expected to vote Tuesday on the proposed $110 million town budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1. Assuming there are no changes, the school board will meet Wednesday to make additional cuts to its budget.